Saved by Venom 3 (Grabbed)(15)

“Oh.” She let him guide her hands under the faucet to wet them before tugging them over to the automated soap dispenser. A foamy blue blob landed in her palm. Gently holding her wrists, he smashed the foam between her palms and helped her work up a rich lather.

Curled around her like this, Venom couldn’t ignore the effect her warm body had on his. Someday very soon, he intended to have her beneath him like this—but very naked. He could just imagine how her snug pussy would feel wrapped around his dick. The very idea of the breathy, pleasured sounds she would make as he rubbed her clit and plowed her pussy had his cock stirring to life in his pants.

He shifted his hips back a bit so she wouldn’t feel the evidence of his arousal jammed up against that tight little ass of hers. The last thing he wanted to do was make her think he was a sex-obsessed barbarian.

Their gazes clashed in the mirror mounted over the sink. The flush to her cheeks betrayed her enjoyment of his nearness. He found her reaction rather enticing and decided to see just how interested in him she was.

When he guided her wet hands under the air dryer, he dropped his mouth to the exposed curve of her neck and planted a couple of soft kisses on her pale skin. She shivered as he skimmed the side of her throat, just above her collar, but didn’t try to evade him or pull out of his embrace. No, she pressed back against him in a silent invitation to continue.

Not about to pass up an opportunity to get closer to her, Venom swept aside the long pale strands of her hair and nipped playfully at the spot where her neck curved into her shoulder. She whimpered softly, the kittenish mewl traveling straight to his throbbing cock. Licking the spot he’d reddened with his teeth, Venom relished the sight of her marked skin. Spanking had never been one of his favorite bedroom activities but the idea of Dizzy’s flesh all hot and pink from his hand made his balls ache.

“Uh, Captain?” A medic called through the closed bathroom door as he knocked hesitantly. “Is everything okay with the patient? Her vital signs are outside the acceptable parameters, especially her heart rate and blood pressure.”

Venom chuckled quietly as he kissed Dizzy’s cheek. He had forgotten all about the small patches dotting her chest and upper arm that transmitted vital signs to the monitors in her room and at the medic’s station. Raising his voice, he answered, “We’re fine. Thanks for checking.”

“All right. Uh—maybe you could try to get her back in bed. I mean, you know, to rest, sir. Not to—”

“I got it.”

“Right. Uh—I’ll just go now. Let me know if you need any help with her, sir. Medical help,” the medic added quickly.

Venom laughed at the medic’s fumbling but Dizzy looked absolutely mortified that the man had thought they were fooling around in the bathroom. He settled his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head before holding her gaze in the mirror’s reflection. “We’re mates, Dizzy. It’s perfectly fine for us to enjoy each other’s company.”

“I know.” She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself. “Where I come from couples don’t talk about these kinds of things and they sure as heck don’t joke about them with other people.”

His earlier plans to ease her into his lifestyle were on target. Taking her to the officers’ club would definitely have to wait. Massaging her shoulders, he said, “If something makes you uncomfortable or embarrasses you, tell me. I’ll stop and we’ll reassess the situation.” He pressed his lips to the side of her neck one more time. “Let’s eat.”

He picked her up again and took her back to the hospital bed. While he adjusted the incline, she touched his arm and asked, “Can you bring me my bag?”

“Sure.” He retrieved it from the chair by the door and brought it over to her. Not a fan of the one-bag rule, he said, “I’m happy to make arrangements for anything you left behind in The City.”

“Thanks but there’s nothing left.” Dizzy unzipped her small suitcase and retrieved a leather messenger bag. She dug around inside it until she found a pink hair tie that she used to secure the pale-blonde tresses away from her face. “I chose the things that meant the most to me and gave away the rest. It wasn’t like I had much anyway. I lived in a tiny studio apartment, so there wasn’t much room for extras.”

He listened carefully for any sadness in her voice but didn’t detect any. She honestly seemed okay with jettisoning her possessions before jumping into the Grab. Something she’d said earlier about only poor women being pulled into the lottery came to mind. Perhaps she hadn’t had much in the way of worldly goods in the first place. The desire to shower her with pretty things hit him hard. “Anything you need or want I’ll find for you.”

She shot one of those dazzling smiles his way. “Thank you.”

As she set aside her bag, he lifted the tabletop attached to the bed into place and secured it. He picked up the trays of food and explained, “I wasn’t sure what you liked so I got a tray of hot things and another tray of cold things.”

When he lifted the lids she sat forward with interest. He started to drag a chair closer but she pointed to the foot of the bed. “Why don’t you sit there? I’ve got my legs crossed, so there’s plenty of room.”

He considered her suggestion and figured it would work fine. Bending down, he removed his boots and made a mental note to see the uniform shop about another pair. He had a backup set in his closet but would need to break in another pair just in case.

Hopping up onto the bed, he realized that sitting with his legs crossed wouldn’t be as easy for him as it evidently was for Dizzy. The nimble little sprite seemed awfully flexible. The sight of her so comfortably contorted spurred some terribly dirty thoughts. He was suddenly very glad for the table between them that shielded the obvious hard-on pressing at the front of his uniform pants.

“I think you’re going to have to drape your legs on either side of the mattress, Venom.”

He loved the way she said his name in that gentle, sweet voice of hers. “I think you’re right, sugar.”

One side of her mouth lifted to form a quirky smile. “That sugar thing seems to be sticking.”

He picked up one of the cutlery sets and handed it to her. “You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that.” She opened the protective packaging and tugged free a fork. “The first couple of times I thought maybe you couldn’t remember my name.”

Her mischievous grin sent little darts of excitement right through his chest. The more relaxed she became around him the more of the real Dizzy he glimpsed—and he really liked her. “Your name isn’t an easy one to forget.”

She made a little laughing sound. “My real name is way worse.”

He’d been tempted to dig through her bag and peek at her official paperwork while she’d been sedated but it felt wrong to go through her things, even if they technically belonged to him now that she was legally his property. “What is it?”

She shook her head. “You first.”

“My name is Venom.”

“No,” she said. “The name you had before the academy.”

Before the academy? “I take it Risk filled you in on our naming conventions.”

“He mentioned that you lose your birth name when you enter the academy and earn another name when you graduate.”

“It’s a way to build unit cohesion and brotherhood. The boys we were when we joined the academy disappear at the front doors. We’re all the same and all on equal footing. No one is richer or poorer. We’re just numbers.”

Her expression turned sad. “That sounds terribly hard for a little boy.”

He shrugged. “It’s not easy but it’s our way. Someday our sons will climb the same stairs to the academy’s front doors that I climbed and my father climbed and his father before him.”

Dizzy went perfectly still at the mention of someday having his sons. It wasn’t a secret that Grabs were meant to promote procreation of strong, healthy boys to fill the ranks. It was one of the reasons why only the bravest, toughest soldiers were granted the right to take wives by earning valor points. It weeded out the weak and the less deserving.

But he had only just Grabbed Dizzy that morning and already he was talking about sons. What the hell is wrong with you? You’re going to scare her.

While he had been dreaming of starting a family for years, Dizzy was in her early twenties, still very young to be considering a family of her own. Would she balk at the idea? Would she follow Menace’s wife’s lead and petition for a birth-control implant?

“I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want you to think that the only reason I entered the Grab was to get you pregnant.”

Shit. That sounded even worse, didn’t it? He could just hear Raze laughing at him and encouraging him to keep digging.

“What I mean is that I want more than just children with you. I want the whole package.”

She studied him for a few discomfiting moments before finally saying, “You’ve probably just jinxed us.”

Bemused, he asked, “Jinxed? How?”

Her mouth slanted rather impishly. “You’re all puffed up about the idea of having sons. We’ll probably end up with a dozen girls.”